Operating systems

Difference Engine: Experience counts

FIRST, an embarrassing admission: your correspondent uses an 11-year-old operating system on his work-a-day computer. Sure, his copy of Windows XP Professional—shorn of all annoying craplets and services, and with no silly eye-candy to slow things down—has been updated and patched religiously, purged of all detritus on a regular basis, and reinstalled afresh on a number of occasions. He has four other Windows XP machines humming away on his network, all similarly maintained. They have proved a good deal more responsive and at least as secure and stable as any of the Macs and Linux machines sharing the network.

Windows XP (for “eXPerience”) went on sale in September 2001. Counting all versions, some 600m copies of XP have been installed on personal computers around the world—making it the most widely used operating system of all time. There have been two subsequent generations of Windows since—Vista in January 2007 and Windows 7 in October 2009. Of Vista, the less said the better. By contrast, Windows 7 has proved a worthy successor to XP, and one that Vista should have been but bungled by being too locked down and nannyish.

What success Vista has had in the market has come mainly as a result of being pre-installed by manufacturers of new computers. The same goes for Windows 7, though more and more XP users have tended to leapfrog Vista when upgrading their computers. This month (July 2012), after almost three years of edging closer, Windows 7 will overtake XP as the world’s most popular operating system.

That is happening just as Microsoft would have users believe Windows 7 is coming to the end of its life. Its replacement, Windows 8, is due this coming October. Those keen to try it have been able to download a free preview version. By all accounts, Windows 8 is slick and stable, booting up and shutting down faster than even Windows 7, while delivering a browsing experience second to none.

But Windows 8 is nothing if not controversial. It represents Microsoft’s most ambitious overhaul of its operating system since it introduced the start button and task bar with Windows 95 in October 1995. It is also Microsoft’s biggest leap of faith—with the potential to become an even bigger debacle than Vista.

For the past 17 years, Microsoft has taught a generation of PC users how to navigate around their computers intuitively, by using a mouse and keyboard to scroll through drop-down menus and then click on the application they want to run. Microsoft will now ditch all that in favour of a start screen comprising a mosaic of brightly coloured tiles, which serve both as short-cuts to favourite applications and as widgets for reporting data from programs that are already running.

The concept behind Windows 8’s “Metro” interface is refreshingly novel and ingenious. It works particularly well on the touchscreen of a smartphone or tablet computer. Indeed, Windows 8 is not just an improved version of Windows 7, but also Microsoft’s last-ditch attempt to remain relevant in the computing world of tomorrow—a market where tablets and smartphones rule and PCs become less important.

Today, the fast-growing business of portable computing is dominated by devices that use either Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating system. Thus, with Microsoft’s operating systems installed on around 90% of all desktops, laptops and notebooks, every tablet bought to replace a PC means one less copy of Windows is sold. The latest projections have tablets outselling PCs within a year or so. Hence the urgency at the software giant’s Redmond headquarters.

That is why Microsoft has put so much emphasis on making sure Windows 8 plays especially well on touchscreen-enabled tablets. In that, it has been singularly successful. However, as tablets and smartphones need to run practically all day before being recharged, yet have little room for bulky batteries, they have long since adopted the frugal family of ARM processors rather than the thirstier Intel and AMD chips used in PCs (see “The empire strikes back”, March 16th 2012). To get a foot in the door, Microsoft has been forced to port Windows 8 to all the popular ARM processors.

There’s the rub. With Windows 8 optimised for portable devices with touchscreens, it becomes a pain in the proverbial for people trying to do real work using a keyboard and mouse on a PC. If, for instance, an application or tool being sought does not have a tile of its own on the start screen, the user has to hunt for it by typing its name into a search box. That quickly becomes the kind of chore PC users really hate.

Nor is there any simple way to bypass the Metro interface and make Windows 8 default to a classical Windows interface for those without a touchscreen, and who prefer working with a keyboard and mouse. It is, of course, possible to dig down through Metro to get to something PC users find more familiar. But they still have to start with Metro, and they still have to return to it when needing to do something different. Workarounds will, no doubt, emerge as PC users vent their frustration with Metro’s way of doing things. Indeed, independent websites are already springing up help PC users deal with Windows 8’s many annoyances.

Microsoft’s determination to force customers to accept the same Metro experience—whether using a phone, a tablet, a computer, a game console or even a TV remote control—seems remarkably risky. For such a clever piece of software, this straight-jacket approach to the user-interface is puzzling. The lack of any easy way of configuring Windows 8 to one’s personal preferences is going to be enough to put many a PC user off.

Certainly, it is enough to make your correspondent think about grabbing a couple of copies of Windows 7 Professional Upgrade before they disappear from the shelves. That will not happen overnight. But when Microsoft ceases to support Windows XP with security patches—April 8th 2014 is the official cut-off date—bargain versions of Windows 7 could by then be in short supply.

Anyone contemplating doing the same should first download a copy of Microsoft’s “Upgrade Advisor”. This will test his computer’s software and hardware for compatibility, and see what drivers need to be upgraded beforehand. He should also download a copy of the Microsoft tutorial “Windows Easy Transfer”. Migrating from Vista to Windows 7 is straightforward, but upgrading from XP is much trickier (see “Microsoft’s seventh seal”, October 23rd 2009). Within enterprises, IT managers needing to upgrade hundreds, or even thousands, of PCs can always subscribe to Microsoft’s Windows Intune service. For around $11 per seat per month, upgrades are handled painlessly en masse via the cloud.

One alternative approach has crossed your correspondent’s mind. While he believes Windows 8 will be modestly successful on phones and tablets, he expects it to be an even bigger flop than Vista on PCs. So miserable was Vista’s reception that, rather than waiting the usual three to five years between releases, Microsoft rushed out its replacement, Windows 7, after little more than two years. What is the betting that Windows 9—offering various tweaks along with the option of a more classical interface—will arrive sometime in 2014? Perhaps not all that long after XP’s final demise...

Microsoft destroyed their OS business model with XP. It was obviously a blunder to sell a real, honest-to-goodness operating system after two decades of unreliable garbage had kept us all slightly desperate for the next, slightly less bad, version of DOS or Windows.

In a conference call with investors and analysts on July 24, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he loved India but there was little business opportunity in the country to sell the company's products."I love India, but I believe Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries. This doesn't mean we're not putting emphasis in India. We have a business there and it's growing but my own perspective is that in the intermediate term there will be larger opportunities outside (the country)," he said.Cook was replying to a question from an analyst who wanted to know why Apple was not more successful in India. The conference call with investors was hosted after Apple declared the results for the quarter 3 of its financial year. The call was live streamed.He added that the distribution channel in India's was also a issue. "The multi-layered distribution (In India) really adds to the cost of getting products to market," While he did not elaborate the distribution difficulties the company might be facing, the company had usually preferred to sell iPhone, its flagship product and a cash cow at the moment, through partnerships with telecom operators. The operators subsidize the device for end users and recoup the money by binding customer to use their service for a year or two. But the 'contract model' for smartphone in India is virtually non-existent, forcing smartphone makers to compete directly with each other in the extremely price-sensitive market. The reason the way I see is India too has the brilliant IT youths. Remember we had the Silicon valley in USA now it is in Bangalore. This types of remarks are good to tell us honestly we cannot do business here and if we do we will fail. I am happy about his frankness. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

In a conference call with investors and analysts on July 24, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he loved India but there was little business opportunity in the country to sell the company's products."I love India, but I believe Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries. This doesn't mean we're not putting emphasis in India. We have a business there and it's growing but my own perspective is that in the intermediate term there will be larger opportunities outside (the country)," he said.Cook was replying to a question from an analyst who wanted to know why Apple was not more successful in India. The conference call with investors was hosted after Apple declared the results for the quarter 3 of its financial year. The call was live streamed.He added that the distribution channel in India's was also a issue. "The multi-layered distribution (In India) really adds to the cost of getting products to market," While he did not elaborate the distribution difficulties the company might be facing, the company had usually preferred to sell iPhone, its flagship product and a cash cow at the moment, through partnerships with telecom operators. The operators subsidize the device for end users and recoup the money by binding customer to use their service for a year or two. But the 'contract model' for smartphone in India is virtually non-existent, forcing smartphone makers to compete directly with each other in the extremely price-sensitive market. The reason the way I see is India too has the brilliant IT youths. Remember we had the Silicon valley in USA now it is in Bangalore. This types of remarks are good to tell us honestly we cannot do business here and if we do we will fail. I am happy about his frankness. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

Let me put it this way: most users hardly do with their machines anything more than using browser, talking on Skype or playing games.

That is, until they come to work.

And, as soon as they come to work, they realize that the restrictive style of Mr. Jobs' approach to computing, really creates a situation when they can't do thing that, y'know, they are paid for.

As, you see, the whole "DLL Hell" is really more typical of Windows; but those DLL's are some pieces of code that are actually written by users and actually serve as a purpose to do things that make money. And, you know, if you do things BY THE BOOK, you will actually have them working very properly; but, turns out, few people actually invest that much time into overhead, and Windows turns out to be a very durable beast that can survive bad code practices much better than the competition. Which will often crash or terminate the program without much further info.

Hence, I repeat: for all the pain, for all the curses that fall on Microsoft's head, there is currently really not much real alternative.

Good article. I tried the first Windows 8 preview on a desktop which is my main environment because I work mainly on computer graphics which require "full grunt" processing power. In that context, I really couldn't see just why they didn't do from outset what they are going to have to do. Inevitably they or third party people, will do it anyway, allow for switching the Metro interface off.

Obviously this is a Marketing Department thing to try and force people into buying "Apps" but its not going to work too well in reality unless, the customer is using a touch screen device which is what this OS is all about. But considering the vast installed base of non touch screen PCs out there which won't get replaced overnight, it is a mistake/arrogance or sheer stupidity.

Following a tip from a reliable technical source, I have tried the second Win8 Preview on a netbook PC I have for travelling and apart from writing/web/mail, don't do too much else on it. It came with Win7 Starter, 1.5 Atom and 2Gb RAM. For me the second "Preview" was better just because they had put Windows Media Player proper in it, the first version would only play 2 tracks from any album, this one does full playlists.

I use Windows 7 on my PCs which I think is a great system but whilst the Metro interface is totally pointless on a non touch screen device, the desktop, start up/shut down response is quicker than Win 7 but then again, if it were a fully loaded graphics desktop PC, would that be true ? No, I'm not going to waste the time on finding out, life is far too short to do free work for Microsoft !

I may buy one copy for my netbook when it launches but only if it is cheap enough else, the netbook goes back to Win7 Starter or, Ubuntu. Frankly, if Adobe, Autodesk and all the other software companies 'ported' the programs I use to Linux, I would probably switch to that full time.

Not because Linux is any better or worse but just so that I didn't have to listen to all the marketing rubbish and noise you get from MS, Apple and all the other dullards trying to keep their margins up at your and my expense. I never ceased to be amazed at just how daft some of these big software companies are and overlook things that should be obvious to them.

One of the funniest of recent times is that Adobe offer the option to "rent" their software for a month or whatever period you want. I am sure that in brainstorming meetings they convinced themselves that this was a "winning idea" but clearly overlooked the fact that the vast majority of their programs are highly complex, aimed at professionals and have a really steep learning curve.

It is because of this that not all their customers will upgrade on every version, these programs are not for casual users. Anybody who knows how to use them, any business that sells services based around this software, already have their own copies so exactly who would need to rent this stuff ? The investment lies in learning to use the software not, in buying a copy.

I wish Microsoft well in their attempts to corner for them, a new market in smart phones and tablets but I can tell them now, they are going to end up with a desktop version with the ability to switch interfaces, Metro or Desktop whether they like it or not.

You obviously don't know much about computers. The operating system is the single most important piece of software on a modern computer. It provides the substrate that allows allows all the other programs running to interact with the hardware without getting in each other's way. Without an OS, you would be totally unable to use your computer unless you were an expert, and even then it would be very, very painful.

Typical Microsoft arrogance - changing the interface to an extent that reduces power users of older versions to tears and still calling the product the same.

I have since moved to OpenOffice/ Libre Office rather than get used to Office 2007. I still use Win XP as an alternative option on the only machine where I have not yet migrated completely to Ubuntu, and I am sure I will give Windows 8 a miss the way I have, Vista and 7.

If Microsoft wants to get in on the smartphone and tablet operating system market, they should probably make a separate software line dedicated to those platforms. Otherwise, it might be forced to do a Coca Cola Classic.

i still run xp pro on the desktop as some programs i use do not work well on vista or windows 7. the demise of xp support will NOT keep me from still using it.
i did get vista and hated it. i also have windows 7 and like it, but not nearly as much as i liked using xp. too bad ms decided to screw up a good thing and replace it with something harder and more complex to use.
as for windows 8, ms can stick it since i use a desktop and a laptop, and refuse to get any tablet or phone that can use it.
i also will not replace my current monitor for a touchscreen as i LIKE using a mouse and a keyboard, not greasy, dirty, grubby fingers to navigate.
ms should stop trying to compete in a market when thy don't have the hardware to support the operating system and let those who actually need to use desktops and laptops have an operating system they can use.
i will eventually upgrade my desktop in the same manner i did with my current one, build it myself, with new parts i purchase to achieve my goals of having a stable, user-friendly operating system even if i have to dump all ms products and go to some open source operating systems.
as for cloud computing, why should i? everything would be in the cloud and nothing would be private anymore. at least with a desktop or laptop, i have some sense of privacy as to my activities, even if it's just an illusion no matter what i want.

1. Windows 8 has two user interfaces (UI) that should satisfy most users.

One is the touch-oriented "tiled UI", the other is a much more classic "desktop UI"—formerly Aero directly ported from 7, ditched last May in favor of a simpler one, for battery concerns. On PC, changes are mostly cosmetic, users do get the good old windows desktop, and likely most of 7's applications. Since many users only use a handful of apps, they’ll likely enjoy the slick tiled interface most often (even with a mouse/trackpad); whereas more demanding tasks can still benefit from the classic desktop features—down to management consoles or command input.

On other devices though (mobile, TV…), there are limiting factors. How long until there are good apps for the tiled UI? Apple is tough to beat. Google knows something about that. Secondly, seamless integration of multiple devices with various physical interfaces is the path all OS makers are pursuing, and one that still needs innovation: can MS deliver?

2. Customization is not trendy these days, so Windows 8 can thrive without it.

Looking at some of the most popular interfaces, from iOS to Facebook passing by a range of yet-leading products, the means for users to customize things are quite painfully lacking: doesn't Facebook look a bit like public housing on the internet, compared to the much more colorful MySpace for instance? Windows 8 can’t do worse than many on this aspect. It may even do a decent job over time, as it learns from rival products, and users tweak it.

3. For IT managers and developers, 8 should be at least equally suited as 7.

Given its core continuity, there are few reasons to think it would do much worse than 7: admins will deal with it in pretty much the same way; and a simultaneous Server release is rather likely to add consistency and seamlessness to the overall Windows environment. Developers still get Direct X, .Net, all Windows-compliant frameworks and runtimes. Everything should fare well with the X-Box, or any device in a Windows 8 ecosystem. As usual, more demanding customers will wait for a service pack and some third-party software to be ironed out; but meaningful incremental updates could help shorten this transition period—if MS listens to its customers’ feedback.

What matters is not so much what it does than where it can do it. It's the first OS that will be able to run on pretty much any piece of consumer computing hardware. As we speak, the leading consumer-grade ecosystem provider is Apple, but only on expensive proprietary hardware. We know this pattern, we've seen it between Mac OS and Windows: the one that runs on every machine gets the larger market share, because it’s a cheaper solution, and more liberal with the user. The current computer cycle is about unification and the formation of ecosystems at various scales, from clouds down to a user’s personal space. So no wonder MS uses its better asset: the massive installed Windows base on PCs should strongly help drive MS's share of the mobile market, precisely because of that universal integration—same OS, same apps, same settings on all devices, seamlessly for the user.

Put bluntly: if they don’t fail, if MS did this right (nothing too fancy, just doing the job properly), it could lead to a major turn in the computer industry cycle. It is my contention that such a universal OS is determining in ushering a new industrial era of "bare tablets": made by hardware manufacturers (similar to desktops and laptops), able to run several OS that users can install at will (Windows 8, maybe Android, and probably a few Linux distributions to begin with). Apple will probably keep its historical proprietary strategy, but most manufacturers, Microsoft and Google would be monetizing cheaper hardware+OS couples. If Windows 8 proves to be such a step in "democratizing" IT ecosystems to consumer and business physical spaces, it would be a meaningful change: more power to users over their various computing devices, which is likely to spur innovation in social uses.

Seen this way, I find it quite a smart business move from MS. They could gain significant momentum. Mobile and cloud technologies, though massive, are only in their infancy, and the next cycle of maturation should be about « making those techs ours » as consumers, just as we did with PCs and laptops, and all mass-market technologies. That's somehow history repeating itself, and undoubtedly MS has the knowledge and experience to be a meaningful actor in this industrial environment at such a moment in the cycle.